Wholesome ‘faral’
If the aroma of freshly fried Karanjis or Chaklis fills the air, you know it’s Diwali. However, with the latest Fit India Movement picking up pace and more and more Indians following a healthy lifestyle, traditional Diwali faral is slowly being replaced by healthy ingredients. Talking to chefs, we find out how you can give your regular faral a healthy twist so that you can occasionally binge on them.
Antony Anandakumar, executive chef, Elior India (which is into corporate catering), rightly points out that no celebration in India is complete without a touch of traditional sweets. “Desserts are the highlight of every Indian festival but keeping in mind the kind of lifestyle we lead, it has become necessary to make innovations so that traditional food tastes the same but is healthy too,” he says.
As nuts and seeds are packed with great nutrients, they can be used in desserts. To avoid high sugar levels, one can use natural sweeteners like dates, jaggery, honey or figs in sweets instead of artificial sweeteners that are hazardous to health in the long run. Suggesting a few alternatives, he says, “Instead of dipping gujiya in sugar syrup, opt for honey gujiya and get a distinct and unique taste. Or drizzle maple syrup over dry fruits sandesh/ gujiya,” says Anandakumar.
A few other natural sweeteners include pomegranate, beetroot and coconut. The chef adds that refined flour can be replaced with coconut flour, millet flour, oats flour, rye flour or even tapioca flour.
Kiran Suvarna, executive chef, Le Méridien Mahabaleshwar Resort and Spa, says that though Diwali faral is made at home, they mostly consist of fried food. So baking will be a better option. “Usually, Diwali faral is on the sweeter side so we can surely try baking,” he says, adding that a lot of the faral items like Karanji, Shankarpali, Chakli and Chiwda are baked nowadays.
To make these baked dishes even more healthy, Suvarna says that people can opt for organic jaggery powder. It is also important to use healthy cooking oils like canola to substitute regular vegetable oil.
Amit Dash, executive chef, The Westin Pune, says that the best thing to do is to make your Diwali savouries at home so that you can control what goes in your favourite dish. “Laddoo is a must on your Diwali faral list. Add a variety of mixed nuts, flax seeds, multi-grains and even oats to give this traditional dessert an ultra rich texture and taste,” he says.
Talking about the ingredients that one must avoid, the chef says, “Stay away from tea and coffee. According to health experts, tea and coffee are nervous stimulants and they might give you a sense of energy for a while, but after a short period of time the energy level goes down and you might feel low, so have lemon-ginger tea instead and feel fresh and revitalised,” says Dash.
Flaxseed and Walnut Laddoo
Ingredients
- Brown sugar ¼ cup
- Jaggery, finely chopped ¼ cup
- Cardamom powder... 1 tsp
- Flax seed powder ¼ cup
- Flax seeds. ¼ cup
- Walnut, powdered ¼ cup
- Ghee 4-5 tbsp
Method
- In a pan, dry roast the flax seeds and keep aside.
- Now combine flax seeds and walnut and ground it coarsely.
- In a bowl, add ghee and combine all the above-mentioned ingredients, mix gently.
- Now roll into lemon size balls, and serve.
(Recipe by Antony Anandakumar, executive chef, Elior India)
Kaju Katli
Ingredients
- Cashews (whole) 1 cup
- Sugar ½ cup
- Water ¼cup
- Cardamom powder 1/8 tsp
- Ghee 1 tsp
- Silver vark
Method
- First, in a small mixer jar, take 1 cup whole clean cashews.
- Furthermore, grind to a smooth powder. Keep aside.
- Now in a non-stick pan, take ½ cup of sugar along with ¼ cup of water.
- Keep the flame on low and keep stirring to form the syrup.
- Stir the sugar syrup till it forms 1 string consistency. Now sieve the ground cashew powder. Remember to keep the flame on low all the time and give a good mix.
- Add cardamom and continue to mix till it starts releasing from pan.
- Once the cashew paste turns to dough leaving the pan, add a tsp of ghee.
- Continue to mix till the ghee melts completely and cashew dough is formed leaving the pan.
- Switch off the stove, and grease the butter paper with ghee. Transfer the cashew dough on to the butter paper.
- Grease your hand with a little ghee and knead 30 seconds.
- Once you get smooth dough, cover with butter paper.
- Take a rolling pin and press to form a uniform layer.
- Then roll the dough with a rolling-pin, adjusting the thickness according to your choice.
- Cut the edges so that you can get perfect diamond shapes or the shape you wish for.
- Decorate the sweets with silver leaf / silver vark.
(Recipe by Amit Dash, executive chef, The Westin Pune)
